The Israeli army has followed up on only three per cent of its own orders to demolish illegal buildings in Jewish settlements in the West Bank over the last decade, a study says.
The report by Peace Now, an Israeli settlement watchdog, follows pledges by the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to freeze new construction in settlements.
Israel also faces increasing pressure to dismantle illegal outposts in preparation for negotiations toward the founding of a Palestinian state.
Based on Israeli army statistics, the report shows that the army carried out only three per cent of its own demolition orders in the last decade, or 107 of 3,449 orders. Another 171 structures were evacuated.
"We've had so many declarations, and none of these declarations have ever happened. What we want to see today is action," said Hagit Ofran, Peace Now's settlement watch director, who said dozens of illegal outposts and new construction projects falling outside this report have also been largely ignored by authorities.
"In order to have real peace negotiations, you must make sure that on the ground you do whatever you can to move forward."
The illegal structures listed for demolition included industrial buildings, mobile-phone towers, public offices and army installations as well as caravans and houses for settlers, and centred around the fast-growing settlements of Beit El and Ofra, north of Jerusalem, the report found.
Jewish settlements are one of the most complicated and controversial issues facing Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, who are to meet again December 12 after last week's summit in Annapolis, Maryland.
The Palestinians want a state based on Israel's pre-1967 borders, while the Israelis have previously stated their intentions to keep three major settlement blocs that fall inside their 436-mile security barrier of electronic fencing and concrete slabs, still under construction.
Israel committed in 2003 under the US-backed "road map" for peace to stop building new settlements and to dismantle unauthorised outposts, and Mr Olmert has pledged to stick to a freeze on new settlements.
But last week, the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, said it would be impossible "from a legal point of view to stop construction projects that have been ongoing for years."
The Israeli army's civil administration for the West Bank yesterday disputed Peace Now's numbers, arguing they didn't account for nearly 600 structures which tenants dismantled voluntarily after receiving orders of demolition, among other discrepancies.
"All the report tries to show is the issue of working against unregulated buildings with very basic numbers, without including all the complexities of this issue," said Captain Tzidki Maman, a spokesman for the civil administration.
"It's dealing with numbers from the wrong point of view."
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